The eight trends propelling the 10x government of the future
The convergence of technology with process, policy, workforce, and regulatory innovations is enabling governments to exponentially enhance service delivery and operations.
Around the globe, we are seeing signs of a renaissance, a moment with the potential for sweeping improvements in service delivery and operations—a transformation that, to some, may seem implausible. Why the skepticism? Well, trust in governments worldwide is scraping historic lows,1 with governments often perceived by citizens as slow-moving, bureaucratic, and risk averse.2
Yet, amidst this pervasive pessimism, a global scan of government trends offers reason for profound hope. We’ve identified more than 200 cases worldwide that offer proof of radical transformation, where government agencies have achieved quantum leaps, delivering upward of 10x improvements across areas ranging from operational efficiency to customer experience to mission outcomes.
What constitutes a “10x” government improvement?
It's a seismic shift, a literal tenfold reduction in costs or a slashing of cycle time by a staggering 90%. But more often, it's an intangible enhancement—a vastly improved customer experience that defies precise quantification yet represents a marked improvement.
So, what emboldens our proclamation of “10x government” as a defining trend of 2024? First, real-world examples are cropping up globally, showcasing instances of dramatic improvements. More importantly, the ongoing digital metamorphosis of governments—including digital workflows, cloud-based data and applications, the use of predictive analytics, and more—that has been unfolding over two decades has laid a robust foundation for the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including generative AI.
At its core, 10x government is about convergence—orchestrating a harmonious interplay of technology, process, policy innovation, workforce, and regulatory changes to engineer unparalleled results. The ongoing digital revolution has already set the stage for significant shifts, with telehealth revolutionizing health care accessibility and cloud computing endowing governments with unforeseen resilience.
Now we are at another jumping-off point in the digital transformation journey—the AI revolution. Many governments are using AI to detect fraud, reduce costs, improve the customer experience, and streamline processes. In general, the successful use of AI has been built on top of a robust digital public infrastructure.3 Not all governments have yet attained a strong digital foundation.4 But for those that have, 10x improvements are a real possibility—and, in some cases, are already a reality.
But technology alone won't cut it. True transformation demands the synergy of technological advances with business innovations, human-centered design, behavioral nudges, and breakthrough cross-sector collaborations that enable agencies to leverage private-sector investment, scale, and technology.5
Deloitte’s Government Trends 2024 report focuses on quantum leaps in public-sector performance. Concrete examples bring this narrative to life. Take Houston's staggering 64% reduction in homelessness since 2011.6 Or India's Aadhaar initiative, the unique identifier that's fast-tracking financial inclusion by an estimated four decades, bringing 80% of the population into the formal banking system in six years compared to what otherwise was expected to have taken 47 years.7 These examples serve as testaments to the transformative power of convergence.
Convergence: The key to 10x change
The impact of innovation can be multiplied when several novel approaches are brought together. This convergence can occur through either serendipity or intention.
A historical lens provides context. The convergence of innovations between 1870 and 1970 took decades to transform humankind’s productive capability. The internal combustion engine, the harnessing of electricity and petroleum for energy, and the telephone and telegraph changed the world. But, it often took decades for these innovations to have a major impact, and it often required additional innovation to scale their impact.8 The light bulb was invented in 1880, but it wasn’t until the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 that electricity was distributed to rural regions in America.9 The Ford Model T rolled into production in America in 1908, but it took the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 to realize the automobile’s transformative potential.10
In stark contrast, the combined impact of the internet, the smartphone, and general computing power ushered in transformative change in under 30 years.
This relates to 10x government in the current context. Amidst the throes of the fourth industrial revolution, governments can strategically combine a plethora of new tools and strategies for transformative impact (figure 1). The power lies in synergistic convergence: melding disparate tools to birth something entirely new.
Consider India’s Aadhaar initiative mentioned earlier, the fast-tracking of the country’s financial inclusion efforts. Achievement of this magnitude would not have been possible without combining tools like Aadhaar (India’s unique digital identity for citizens) and digital payment system with public-private partnerships, supportive legislative and policy frameworks, and digitization of the physical know-your-customer process.11 Banks and financial technology companies helped the government by developing innovative services on top of Aadhaar’s digital infrastructure to improve financial inclusion.12 Further, the Reserve Bank of India (India’s central bank) paved the way for the use of Aadhaar in the know-your-customer process in 2013.13
Key tools enhancing India’s financial inclusion
Digital identity + digital payments + policy reform + public-private partnership (banks and fintech) + reimagined workflows = Massive acceleration of financial inclusion goals
European countries, meanwhile, have spent the last decade implementing the “Once Only Principle,” where citizens and businesses must share the same information only once with governments. This is estimated to save 855,000 hours for citizens and 11 billion euros for businesses annually.14
Not surprisingly, implementing the Once Only Principle has required integrating a host of specific tools and activities, including technology and data-sharing platforms,15 digital identity, workflow reengineering, data privacy laws, and providing legal validity for shared documents. Using the Once Only Principle, Austria has made it easier for doctors, care facilities, hospitals, and other health care professionals to access patient information through a data platform, eliminating the need for patients to share their medical history repeatedly.16 The same principle helps citizens in Estonia file tax returns in just five minutes.17
Reducing friction through the European Union’s Once Only Principle
Digital identity + data-sharing + shared governance + regulations and policy reforms + technology platforms + network mindset = Seamless services
Such synergistic convergence is powering 10x government improvements in equity, customer experience, productivity, resilience, innovation, and agility—enabling governments around the world to find opportunities to transform current processes and achieve outcomes in entirely new ways.
The eight “10x” trends transforming government in 2024
Launched in 2019, the Deloitte Center for Government Insights’ Government Trends report has covered trends in each iteration that continue to hold relevance today (figure 2). Some trends, such as digital government, have been constant throughout the years. Others, such as equity and resilience, have emerged more recently. The 2024 report identifies eight trends transforming government, each of which showcases profound 10x improvements.
It should be noted that a trend is considered a trend when it is observed across multiple levels (federal, state, and city) and geographies across the globe. The trend should not be confined to a single place or experimental pilots; instead, it should actually be emerging. Additionally, for something to be recognized as a trend, it should be relevant to governments and economies of all sizes.
These eight trends, taking root across the globe, from small countries like Portugal and New Zealand to large countries like India and the United States, demonstrate the power of convergence to turbocharge 10x government.
Government at warp speed: Government leaders worldwide are seeing ever-greater benefits of increased operational speed. By introducing new technologies along with reimagined processes, governments can deliver faster services with far less friction without sacrificing service quality.
State of play: Scores of government agencies across the globe are challenging the widely held assumption that governments typically move slowly. Many of the remarkable 10x advancements we describe are in speeding up government processes and service delivery, from benefits eligibility to permitting to procurement.
Unleashing productivity in government: Advances in AI, including generative AI, provide an opportunity to jumpstart a new era of increased productivity in the public sector. Governments should ensure that they have a solid foundation of digital capabilities—including data, cloud, and digital processes—and then test and scale powerful AI applications.
State of play: While still in the early days of transformation, advances in AI, including generative AI, provide an opportunity for a decade or more of deep productivity improvements in government.
Government’s newfound agility: Today, it seems one crisis hardly passes before the next crisis arrives. In an era of rapid change, government leaders are embracing the imperative of being agile. Many governments are abandoning traditional processes to move toward flexible approaches to policymaking, funding, technology development, and decision-making.
State of play: Agile government is on the rise worldwide with agencies increasingly using agile approaches in procurement, regulation, policymaking, workforce deployment, funding, and even constructing physical infrastructure to achieve 10X change.
Nurturing ecosystems to supercharge innovation: Addressing modern challenges often demands innovation at a scale that governments cannot achieve alone.18 Consequently, governments are cultivating ecosystems of problem solvers spanning industry, academia, and the public sector. Governments are aligning stakeholder incentives to nurture these ecosystems and creating conditions that encourage private sector participation. Policymakers can incentivize the private sector and help spur 10x innovations through subsidies, tax breaks, funding, regulatory easing, and knowledge-sharing.
State of play: Governments around the world are beginning to deploy the full array of tools to not just create one innovation, but to catalyze a whole ecosystem to create 10x innovation.
Crossing boundaries to transform mission effectiveness: Addressing big challenges often extends beyond the scope of individual government agencies. Effective solutions often require collaborative efforts, fostering partnerships between multiple government entities and the private sector. Using technology infrastructure and policy measures, governments are helping to address some of the toughest societal problems that transcend traditional jurisdictional boundaries.
State of play: Governments are increasingly recognizing that excellence in cross-boundary collaboration provides the key to achieving 10x-level improvements in mission outcomes.
Government’s resilience imperative: Governments that are grappling with a 'polycrisis' world prioritize building resilience against various threats, including global conflict, climate change, supply shocks, refugee migration, cyberattacks, and more. They are enhancing their capacity to operate during disruptions while safeguarding the community.
State of play: Governments are upgrading critical infrastructure and deploying emerging technologies like AI and digital twins to gain a deeper understanding of challenges and implement effective countermeasures. Success depends on aligning corporate and government interests to foster effective cross-sector collaborations to solve problems.
Government’s role in scaling equity: Building a future of equity often requires systemic changes and continually adapting policies, regulations, and services to make them more balanced and accessible. By focusing on three primary spheres of influence within government organizations—the workforce, vendor ecosystems, and communities and society—governments can help advance equity within and outside their agencies.
State of play: Governments are designing inclusive policies and accessible services for the public, building a diverse public-sector workforce of the future, and engaging a broader vendor ecosystem to achieve more equitable outcomes.
10x improvement in customer experience: Digital technology offers the opportunity for 10X-level improvements to customer experience. From businesses applying for licenses online to individuals using a digital ID to access welfare benefits, digital services are helping governments be efficient, frictionless, and personalized. Digital public infrastructure like digital identity, digital payments, and data exchange platforms can create a proactive government that anticipates citizens' needs.
State of play: Through strategies like life events-based service delivery, human-centered design, and vigorous customer experience measurement systems, governments have made major strides in customer experience over the past decade. The growing adoption of digital public infrastructure platforms can enable them to take previous improvements to a whole new level.
In this era of unprecedented possibilities, governments stand at the threshold of transformative change, armed with the tools, strategies, and collaborative mindset to help propel them into a future where 10x improvements are not just aspirational but also achievable realities.